New Patients

What to Expect

You will need to contact The OCD & Anxiety Center by either calling us at 630-522-3124, emailing info@theocdandanxietycenter.com, or through completing our Contact Form. A therapist will get back with you shortly to answer any questions that you may have, give you some information about treatment with us, and help you get scheduled with your Provider. The therapist will also provide you with information regarding the process of completing intake paperwork. Please feel free to ask any other questions that you may have regarding your treatment.

Your initial session will last approximately 60-90 minutes. Your Provider will spend some time going over the initial paperwork and making sure you feel comfortable. The remainder of the session will be devoted to you and your Provider getting to know one another, discussing your treatment goals, further assessing symptoms, and providing additional information regarding the types of treatments available. When meeting with children or young adults, we find that it is helpful to have parents or family members involved in the initial sessions to provide additional information and learn about treatment planning. Comprehensive assessment and detailed treatment planning are vital to successful treatment and can take up to three sessions to complete.

As mentioned above, you can expect your first session to last 60-90 minutes. Subsequent sessions will last approximately 45-60 minutes, with longer (and shorter) session times available if determined to be necessary to address your treatment needs.

You can expect to meet at least once weekly with your Provider, at least initially. More frequent (and longer) sessions may be recommended in order to address your treatment needs. As your symptoms start to improve, and you become more confident with your treatment approach, you will meet with your Provider less frequently in order to give you the opportunity to experience success with implementing your treatment strategies on your own! Our goal is to cut down sessions as quickly as possible and to help you become better equipped to be your own therapist.

We have found that it is very helpful to involve family members and other important support systems in treatment, as oftentimes the environment can accidentally make anxiety and OCD worse. We often meet with parents in order to provide parent training in order to make sure that treatment is being implemented consistently at home, which can greatly speed up the course of treatment. We are also happy to work with school psychologists and social workers, teachers, churches, and other treatment providers.

This is a very difficult question to answer. It depends on many factors, such as severity of symptoms, time available to devote to treatment, family accommodation of symptoms, life events and other stressors, etc. A fairly realistic expectation of treatment duration is around 16 sessions, with some people moving through treatment more quickly, and others more slowly. Treatment progress can be expedited with more frequent sessions (up to seven days weekly) of longer duration (two or more hours per session). This treatment approach is known as “intensive” treatment, and it is available at The OCD & Anxiety Center.

The initial 60-minute intake appointment is billed at $254. Subsequent sessions are billed at the following rates: $180 per 45-minute appointment for Senior Level Clinicians and $150 per 45-minute appointment for Associate Level Clinicians. Sessions lasting longer (or shorter) than 45 minutes will be pro-rated according to the hourly rate in 5-minute increments. There are options available to help you reduce the costs associated with treatment; these options are addressed in more detail below.

Your insurance policy should reimburse at “out-of-network” rates for your sessions, meaning that part or all of your session costs may be covered. You may have deductibles to meet, co-payments/co-insurance payments, limitations on number of sessions covered, etc. that may affect your expected financial contribution during treatment. We have also found that insurance companies have been more willing to cover our services at the “in-network” rates because of the specialized nature of our services. It is recommended that you contact your insurance company to verify your out-of-network benefits prior to entering into treatment at The OCD & Anxiety Center.

The OCD and Anxiety Center does not submit insurance claims on your behalf. We will, however, provide you with statements for services rendered so that you may submit a claim to your insurance company for reimbursement. We will also complete any necessary paperwork for your insurance company. You may also have the option of requesting an “in-network exception” or “single case agreement” through your insurance provider. If this request is approved, this means that your insurance company will reimburse you at in-network rates for services rendered at The OCD & Anxiety Center. We are happy to assist you during the process of applying for these special agreements.

Insurance companies can impose limitations on the type and duration of treatment, and these limitations can adversely affect treatment outcome. For example, many of the treatments offered at The OCD & Anxiety Center are more effective if they can be implemented through multiple sessions per week, and for multiple hours per session; this is referred to as “intensive treatment.” Furthermore, treatment is more effective if treatment can be offered outside of the office setting (e.g., in the home, at school/work, public places, driving). Some insurance companies do not reimburse for intensive treatments or treatment provided outside of the Provider’s office, and as a result, you may not benefit as quickly or as fully in treatment. By not contracting with insurance companies, our Providers can make treatment decisions with your best interests in mind, thereby increasing your chances of reaching your treatment goals in a timely manner.

Payment is expected at the time of service. However, we do understand that intensive treatment in particular can create financial stressors. If this is the case for you, you may speak with your Provider about arranging a payment plan that will allow you to pay an agreed-upon monthly amount until your balance is paid in full. In addition, we do not want cost to deter you from getting the effective help that you may need and are able to reduce fees for qualified patients.

Forms

Please complete the following forms prior to your first appointment. It is not possible to complete and submit these forms online, so please print out and complete each form, and bring them with you to your first appointment.